Aldershot

Hi to all... Recently seen a very nice property in Aldershot and considering it seriously. Its our first home to buy and obviously finding it so difficult to decide about living in Aldershot especially after renting our place in Woking for the past 5+ years. Appreciate if you can tell us about your experience living in Aldershot (10 mins south to rail station / town centre)? Is it on the up with the new AUE / Westgate development ? Many thanks in advance for your inputs, really appreciated..

I live in Woking and aldershot is nicknamed aldershit - basically it doesn't have a great reputation. There are far nicer places around to live, although I know it's expensive. Have you looked at any other areas?

Thanks all for your inputs..created a similar blog under properties. Would look for local experiences for those living in Aldershot - social, education, health, etc.. aspects. Spent there couple of days checking the towncentre and neighbourhood, all I can see are potentials for improvement and see the area is on the up ! Not sure if i am wrong (can be very wrong) . My budget for a house is around 350K... In Woking, that can only get me a decent 2 bedroom flat... Would appreciate your re-posts on the other chat / blog room (Properties / DYI).. Many thnaks

DH calls to Aldershit and he lived there from the age of 2 til he went to uni.

He says Aldershit was always the poor relation of Farnborough/Farnham/Woking /Guildford. People have said it has been "on the up" for 40 years. He says it is now an "utter shit hole" - first visit home for 4 years (just got back)

We went to Aldershot the other day..... I was expecting it to be nice for some reason but was disappointed! They have an ace Morrisons though.We bought around Guildford this time last year, 3 bed semi, big garden, culdesac, £350k on the dot.

We seriously considered buying in Aldershot about six or seven years ago as we could get a lot more for our money and everyone was saying it would improve soon. The army were going to move out and they were going to invest lots of money into the area and make it all shiny and new. What actually happened is that it has not improved and seems to have got worse if anything. We got a house in Bramley instead.Everyone always says Aldershot has a lot of potential etc,etc but that doesn't count for anything if it isn't used.

If you like that general area can you look at Frimley, North Camp, Tongham? Or even Farnham which is lovely and you still get a lot more for your money than Woking.

Personally I would choose to stay in Woking. They've improved the town centre massively and are spending loads on doing even more. There are more restaurants being built and lots of money being invested in building housing as the London house prices are forcing commuters to look elsewhere. Woking and Guildford are high on the lists of where commuters are looking but obviously Guildford is already very pricey.

Many thanks for your valuable feedback... As I suspected but not as I hoped .

Been reading / researching the town for a while and we came across a very famous statement: "it is cheap for a reason" ! Only if we can tell what is this reason for real !?? Till date I can't find a direct reason. Yes Woking and Guildford (and others...) are more developed and up-leveled with the new town centre and shops, why Aldershot can't be like this very soon ?

We could only go and walk around the high street, wellington centre, town centre and new Westgate, we concluded it is not the first place that you will want to go for shopping and having a nice dinner. (you have many other good towns / places around and within good reach).

Aldershot Houses (new decent ones) will give better value for money as they are reasonably cheap compared to the neighbouring towns... Good commute to London, big Morison & Tesco, new Westgate and an improving high street ans near future plans for developing the north of the town (AUE - Aldershot Urban Extension) that is already underway...

What we will be we will be getting for £ 350K is very tempting and making us reconsider everything one more time. But having read your replies will definitely make us think it over and over again...

Thanks all for your help, if you have anything more to add, we would really appreciate your thoughts and past / current experiences .. I will be actively checking this thread

I lived in Woking for 5 years and Farnham for 7. Grew up in a village about 7 miles from Guildford. I love Guildford and we will likely move back when the kids are off. Woking is excellent for commuting to London and there are some okay bits. We moved from there when our eldest was 2 as we wanted better schools - that was over 10 years ago. I read a few years back that Aldershot is a great place to buy because the army are moving out and there is going to be lots of investment. Same with Bordon apparently. Friends lived in a big house in Aldershot, just over the border from Farnham. The difference in house price was enormous and it was a decent area. They sent their kids to private school though.

@cece : very good taste, all 3 properties look very nice, I liked the one in Frimley the most - only downside it is not on the mainline to Waterloo London.

Thanks all for your valuable inputs today. We have decided to go to the town centre tomorrow / Monday and ask further the locals to convince us stating the positives and negatives about Aldershot... We will feedback our findings back into this thread and maybe we can have another round of discussions. Many thanks again and wish you a pleasant evening